Ah, the sound of chain-saws in the morning light! As mentioned in an earlier post, I am having two old trees taken down. One is dead and other is certainly on its way out. It's expensive to do but it is the right time to do it, loath as I am to cut down any trees.

Xiaoyu will be coming here at the end of the year. It was my idea, because really, I could only have gone to China for a couple of weeks. She will be able to stay for a couple of months. This gives us the chance to get to know each other and discover whether we have a future together. The signs are good so far, but I think a living together immersion will be just the right test. Xiaoyu is studying English so I hope that we can communicate a little more freely than we were able to in February. Most interesting for me will be how she deals with the cultural difference. Despite its rush into capitalist modernity, Chinese culture is fundamentally different to Western culture and it will be a challenge for her.

Tom comes back from his mum today, which makes me very happy. It gets kind of lonely around here when he's gone.